Poles, podiums and points lead for Beechdean Motorsport at Oulton Park!

Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn lead the British GT Championship after the Beechdean Motorsport duo scored two pole positions and two podium finishes on a sweltering weekend of Bank Holiday action at Oulton Park.

The pair twice finished second in the #7 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at the Cheshire parkland circuit on a day when the team from High Wycombe proved their mettle against ultra-strong opposition in the UK’s leading racing series.

Such a superb set of results were unexpected when Saturday afternoon’s qualifying sessions began; the Aston Martin having failed to trouble the pace-setters in either practice or the previous day’s official tests.

But two-time series champion Andrew used the experience he has gained in 20 years of GT racing to immediately bring his Pirelli tyres into their optimal operating window and set a time 0.058 seconds faster than the opposition.

That secured pole position – the team’s first of the year – for the opening race, and Aston Martin works driver Ross then made it a double celebration shortly afterwards as he topped the Race Two session by an even slimmer 0.019s margin.

Andrew lost the lead of Race One at the first corner, but ran consistently throughout his opening stint to reach the mid-race driver changes in second place, and with a healthy margin to the car in third.

Once behind the wheel, Ross set about closing on the leader and was relentless in his chase, eventually finishing just 0.2s from victory as the one-hour duration was reached.

That result elevated the duo to the head of the GT3 Pro-Am standings, while they had to wait until the end of Race Two to do likewise in the overall points table.

This time it was Ross’s turn to start. The Thame driver maintained the advantage through his stint, but lost the lead at the pitstops owing to a seven-second ‘success penalty’ imposed on the team because of their Race One podium result.

Exiting the pits in second, Andrew defended doggedly from one determined rival behind, and came home in the runner-up position to secure a second overall podium of 2026 and a third Pro-Am rostrum from as many races.

 The awards did not end there at Oulton Park; Beechdean Motorsport being presented with the Team of the Weekend prize and Ross receiving the Sunoco Fastest Lap Trophy thanks to setting the quickest times in both of the day’s races.

Andrew and Ross now head the Drivers’ Championship by 6.5 points with two of six events complete. The next event features a single ‘endurance’ race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on June 20-21.

Andrew Howard, Team Principal: “I’m delighted – I honestly had no expectation that the weekend would end this well. The Aston Martin wasn’t easy to drive on Friday, but what the team have done is given us both the confidence to push hard when the car’s in a difficult state. I didn’t have that before and it’s made all the difference. It’s way too early to think about winning another championship. My plan for 2026 was just to have fun and treat every race like it might be your last. We’ll just keep doing what we do and see where it takes us.”

Ross Gunn: “I’m so happy with how we’ve progressed this weekend. We started with a mid-pack car and gradually worked on a few things and got better and better. Andrew was phenomenal in qualifying and that set me up for a strong run in my session and from there, the aim was just to pick up as many points as we could in both races. It’s so easy to end up in the gravel here or with a penalty so to come away with two second places is pretty mega and it sets up things for Spa quite nicely.”